getting the call: Chantil Ramey received the call on Thursday that her sister, missing hiker Kyndall Jack, had been rescued and was being transported to UCI Medical Center in Orange, California.

Irfan Khan • Los Angeles Times
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This photo provided by Los Angeles County Search and Rescue Reserve Deputy Doug Cramoline shows the helicopter rescue of Kyndall Jack, 18, by an L.A. County deputy after being missing for five days in rugged country near Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., Thursday, April 4, 2013. A rescue team followed the sounds of a screaming female voice to an almost vertical canyon wall where they found Jack clinging to a rocky outcropping after going missing during a last Sunday. (AP Photo/L.A. County Search and Rescue Reserve, Deputy Doug Cramoline)

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Lost for days, hikers is found alive

Article by: GILLIAN FLACCUS&#x2002; Associated Press

April 4, 2013 - 11:39 PM

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, Calif. – Rescuers who plucked a young woman on Thursday from a steep, rocky canyon wall said she was exhausted, had trouble breathing and likely could not have survived much longer than another day in the rugged Southern California wilderness.

Kyndall Jack, 18, was rescued from a near-vertical wall in Falls Canyon in Cleveland National Forest, five days after she got lost on a day hike with a friend.

“She was kind of clinging to the ledge on the cliff side, kind of going in and out of consciousness,” said Los Angeles County sheriff’s Deputy Jim Moss, a paramedic who treated her. “We climbed up to her and could see she was in a lot of pain, obviously completely dehydrated and very weak.”

“She wouldn’t have made it much longer. She’s really lucky,” he said after the rescue.

Barely able to move, Jack had managed to scream on and off for 90 minutes, shouting at times, “I’m here, I’m here,” as rescuers moved toward her.

It was her screams that brought searchers to her hours after they found her hiking companion, Nicolas Cendoya, 19, on Wednesday night, said Orange County sheriff’s Lt. Jason Park.“We started to close in. We heard the voice from all our ground crews and surrounded it. ... It was very difficult to extract her.”

Rescuers were finally able to strap her into a harness and airlift her to a hospital.

A reserve deputy aiding the effort suffered a head injury when he fell 60 feet down the canyon. He also was flown to a hospital.

Jack and Cendoya had driven to the area on Easter Sunday for what was supposed to be a short, easy hike. Before his cellphone’s battery died, Cendoya was able to make a 911 call telling authorities the couple had gotten lost. Somehow, the pair became separated Sunday night.

Cendoya was found less than a mile from the pair’s car, but the brush was so thick that a person wouldn’t be able to see someone standing as close as five feet away, said Orange County fire Capt. Jon Muir. Cendoya was wearing in shorts and a shirt, but missing his shoes. He was being treated for severe dehydration.

Jack was found in similar condition, dressed in a pair of shorts, a hoodie and socks, having also lost her shoes. Her rescuers said she couldn’t remember that she had even gone hiking. She had no idea how she had gotten on to the steep, rocky canyon outcropping where they found her.